Prodigal Son
by LeighAidan
Summary: FutureFic! When the sudden death of Batman reaches Titans' Tower, Nightwing knows he now has a new duty to Gotham City. He can't do it alone. He and the Titans head to Gotham City and learn to fight the villains of Gotham and take up the mantle of Batman. HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

"_Although no sculptured marble should rise in their memory, nor engraved stone bear record of their deeds, yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the world they honored." - Daniel Webster_

The Death of Batman

Batman stepped over the unconscious body that was one of Darkseid's many minions, his long black cape sweeping over it noiselessly. He turned around to view the top level of Command-D [1] making sure there were no more lackeys he needed to take care of. Satisfied with the utter silence and the many comatose bodies that littered the floor, he braced his hands on the eighth bar of the steel ladder and began climbing. Once he reached the top of the ladder he opened the hatch, automatically finding himself bathed in an eerie red light. Making sure the whites of his cowl were above the hatch in the ground, he activated the Detective Mode [2]. Turning his head around to get a complete 360 view of the area, Batman mentally noted that there were twelve more minions along his path and all were armed.

Grasping at his belt, he took hold of the Batcable and fired it up to the rafters and allowed his body to quickly glide through the air. Gaining his balance swiftly, he promptly moved from one beam to another, setting a timed device on each one. Once he made it to the last beam on the row he looked at the timer in his hand.

00:10

00:09

00:08

00:07

00:06

Batman went into a crouching position, his feet planted sturdily on the beam and a laser in his hands.

00:05

00:04

00:03

00:02

00:01

He jumped from his position and landed precisely in front of the locked door.

00:00

The devices Batman had placed on the rafters went off with a quiet noise and knock-out gas left them with a slow hiss. Quickly getting to work, Batman knew he wouldn't have to worry about the twelve minions as the gas would take an immediate effect on their systems. The laser turned on, a glowing red taking its place at the end. Batman moved the laser around in a precise circle, revolving it around the lock. The lock fell out of its previous place, clattering to the floor. Batman gently pushed on the door and it swung open easily with a quiet squeak.

Stepping silently over the threshold, Batman made sure to get a quick yet thorough view of the hallway. No one was there. Feeling at his belt to make sure the most important weapon he had ever considered using was still in place, Batman took off on a jog down the long, narrow hallway.

Using his skills to his advantage, Batman slid around through the shadows smooth as water and quiet as the moon. His steps were meticulous as he circled the throne in the center of the room. The room was large. So large that from his point of view, Batman could not see the ceiling. Rays of multiple colors of light made shapes that crossed over the room like a kaleidoscope. The figure in the throne sat perfectly still, not a muscle making the slightest twitch. Batman knew the time to act was near. He made a tiny noise from where he was shrouded; it wasn't loud enough to alert any normal being but the man in the throne was not a normal being.

[3] "I wondered when you would show yourself," a deep, almost robotic, voice said from the front of the throne. "Stop skulking in the shadows. Accept that the equation is proven. Come out." Batman cautiously sidestepped a path, making sure he would end up directly in front of the figure. "Embrace Anti-Life and be whole."

"Darkseid. You look like I feel," Batman stated, looking up at the form of Darkseid. He was tall, at least seven feet, and broad as a tank. His skin looked like rock, rough and dark gray. His eyes radiated a glowering red and his helmet was lit up in an electric blue. "You shouldn't have shot Orion [4]." Darkseid's voice was steady and unaffected, sounding truly heartless as he justified the murder of his own son.

"It was Orion's destiny to fall in the 'Final Battle.' Splintered like light through a prism in an infinite number of deaths." Batman couldn't stop the smug look that etched itself on his face.

"And on the way he wounded you beyond repair, didn't he? A rotten carcass of a god, crawling into the sewer to die." Batman stopped speaking and allowed the perfect silence to take over the room. Darkseid's eyes bore into Batman's as though they could see through the cowl and predict what he was going to say next. When at last he spoke, his voice was deathly quiet and gruff, the words making their way out of his mouth through gritted teeth. "I made a very solemn vow about firearms." In the blink of an eye, Batman had pulled a gun from his belt, pointing it at Darkseid. The gun wasn't your everyday gun. Its design was intricate, the barrel smooth and sleek. It was made of a glittering chrome with a circular yellow design on it. "But for you I'm making a once-in-a-lifetime exception. A gun and a bullet, Darkseid. It was your idea." Darkseid's eyes began to blaze like fire.

"Little man," Darkseid growled, his tone threatening. "Can you outrace the Omega Sanction? The death that is life!" His hands were tense on the arms of his throne and they were beginning to crack from his strength. Batman's finger tightened on the trigger.

"Try me."

Then he fired.

The bullet soared through the air and Batman could almost feel the atmosphere of the room heat up. By the time Darkseid realized what the bullet was, it was too late. The Radion bullet [5] pierced into Darkseid's skin, right below his left clavicle. Not to be outdone, Darkseid let out a mighty roar as the bullet went into him and released his Omega Sanction. Beams of fluorescent red scattered in different directions around the room as Darkseid fell out of his throne with the force of the hit. As the Omega Sanction came at his body Batman couldn't help but let one last smile grace his features.

"Gotcha."

In the city of Blüdhaven, right outside Command-D, Supergirl and Wonder Woman were in a mighty battle against the remaining Female Furies [6]. The two were worn and beaten but fighting with everything they had left within them. Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of the red sky. Supergirl smiled warmly at the sight of her cousin but that smile quickly turned into a frown at the look on his face.

He flew down to where she and Wonder Woman were, rapidly bashing aside the last of the Female Furies. Taken aback by the sudden anger, Supergirl and Wonder Woman flew behind the looming figure of Superman. His usual baby blue eyes began radiating a furious red. Supergirl and Wonder Woman threw their hands up in front of their faces, attempting to make a shield from the bright light and heat. Giant rays of heat vision left Superman's eyes, unleashing massive destruction over the vicinity of Command-D. Supergirl looked over at Wonder Woman with wide eyes, watching as her cousin flew into the building that he had nearly destroyed.

Less than a minute later Superman returned at the fallen front doors. Wonder Woman barely kept away the scream that wanted to escape her throat. Supergirl, however, could not contain the scream that then echoed throughout the now silent city of Blüdhaven.

In Superman's arms was the smoking corpse of Batman, nothing left but the skeleton that housed his flesh and the cowl that hid his face.

AN: Hello again…I know it is rather pointless for me to apologize for not updating any of my stories in months. I am going to apologize anyway, however. So, I am terribly, terribly sorry I haven't been here to update anything! I do have some excuses, though feeble they may be. My computer did crash about three months ago and I lost any work that I did have. Some of it was backed up on a flash drive but other stories, such as stories currently in the making, were destroyed. I have not given up on them though.

I already have the first four chapters of this story completed. I'm not entirely sure how long it will be but I can assure you it will be more than forty chapters. I have one other story that is completely planned out. It is called _Green Card._ It's AU but I rather like the idea. It will be about forty-three chapters when officially complete.

Anyway, this story is about the death of Batman and the responsibility is leaves on Nightwing. In my story, Nightwing is still leader of the Titans. Here are the footnotes I left in the story:

[1]- Command-D is a center underneath Blüdhaven that Darkseid took over during his raid of Earth. Batman was teleported and held captive here before he was killed.

[2]- For anyone out there that's played _Batman: Arkham Asylum, _you'll know what I'm talking about. For those of you who don't know, Detective Mode is a vision device that Batman uses that allows him to see people, such as villains, in areas based on their body heat.

[3]- All the dialogue in this chapter is directly out of the comic book, _Final Crisis_, issue number six. So it doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Grant Morrison or DC Comics.

[4]- Orion was Darkseid's son who was found dead by a detective on Earth that was investigating the murder of child prodigies. It is later discovered that Darkseid planned his son's death.

[5]- Radion is the only element that can kill a new god. It was found as the cause of death of Orion so Batman made sure to have one to kill Darkseid with.

[6]- The Female Furies were originally a group of murderesses from Apokolips. In this issue though, the Female Furies were heroes/villains that were taken over by a virus of some sort. The Female Furies in _Final Crisis _were Wonder Woman, Batwoman, Catwoman, and Giganta.

Other than the dialogue I'm not sure how accurate this is to the actual comic. I have never read all of _Final Crisis_ so most of this was from my imagination.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything in this story. The characters belong to DC Comics and the dialogue belongs to Grant Morrison.

Thank you for reading! Please review! Constructive criticism is appreciated and if anything needs corrected, don't hesitate to tell me!


	2. Chapter 2

"_No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear."- C.S. Lewis_

Do You Want the Bad News First?

The sky was dark with thunderclouds, yet bright with strikes of white lightning. Rain poured in large droplets over the region of Jump City, California. On the island that was directly in the harbor, a giant T-shaped tower was in a normal routine, its residents ignoring the escalating storm.

The much older Teen Titans, now minus the "Teen", were enjoying the rainy day in each other's company and doing what they enjoyed doing in their spare time. Though eight years had past, their preferences hadn't really changed. Changeling, formerly Beast Boy, still delighted in playing the newest and greatest video game or a competitive game of Stank Ball. Cyborg still spent the free time he had playing video games or Stank Ball with Changeling and always made time to work diligently on his precious "Baby", the second love of his life. Starfire, though slightly more educated in the ways of Earth, still took great care of her little bumgorf, Silkie, and when she wasn't spending time with Silkie, she was at the mall of shopping, occasionally managing to drag Raven along with her. Raven had opened up a bit more with the many years that had passed since Trigon's defeat. She wasn't, and never would be, as bubbly and unguarded as Starfire but she did participate in "family outings" much more often. Her spare time, however, was spent reading her multitude of books or meditating, though it wasn't needed as regularly anymore. Nightwing, formerly Robin, still enjoyed pushing his training to the limits and double checking evidence files, despite the fact that is was unneeded.

Some things had changed in much more drastically, however. No longer were they teens with minds confused on the ways of life, love, and everyday events. Most aspects were officially sorted out in their heads; they had figured out what they finally wanted. Friendships had gotten stronger, relationships had blossomed into true love, and the team had expanded, now holding over four hundred honorary members. The friendships, though always strong, had developed into the closest friendships anyone could ever find. All of them, including the honorary teams, such as Titans East, knew that without a doubt, they could trust anyone that was a Titan. Many felt like siblings, unguarded and full of utter reliance on one another.

Relationships had changed, many of them finding true love with fellow heroes or friends. Robin and Starfire had ended their relationship unanimously after merely a year and a half of dating. Several months later, Starfire did date Speedy but their relationship didn't work out so well either. Currently single, Starfire is content with her relationship status and will wait until she has found her true love. About two years after the split between Robin and Starfire, Robin and Raven decided to chance a relationship with one another but promised to take it slow. Now the two were happier and closer than ever, their love having bloomed into something much deeper than love, though thoroughly indescribable. Cyborg and Bumblebee pursued their relationship. It caused some rockiness between Titans West and Titans East, but the two have dated for several years, maintaining a healthy relationship, though living in separate towns. Beast Boy and tried following Tara who he, still to this day, believed was _his _Terra, but with her completely consistent story of her life, he had finally given up. He now rather enjoyed his bachelor lifestyle.

The team had expanded not only to different countries or even planets, but they now reached as far as twelve dimensions away from Earth 2 [1]. The extension to the multiple dimensions was courtesy of Herald who proved to be quite the messenger and recruiter, he himself finding about one hundred possible Titans. Robin had recruited members such as his first team, the original Young Justice [2]. While Kid Flash had already been an honorary Titan, the others such as Miss Martian, Superboy, Kaldur'Ahm, and Artemis had proven to be useful assets.

Though there were some rough times that caused pain within the team, the Titans had persevered through it all without fail. They were strong. They are stronger now. Currently at their prime, everyone, including the Titans themselves, believes that the Titans are invincible. A power that might be equally as strong as the Justice League.

After what is about to occur, however, their survival as a team will be unlikely.

Strolling over to the black, horseshoe shaped couch, Nightwing sat down and let out a contented sigh. He had just gotten out of the shower after a strenuous training session and enjoyed the sound of his home around him. Even though there was a severe storm raging outside, the Titans continued on like every normal day. On the far side of the couch, Changeling and Cyborg sat, both hunched over with a look of concentration on their faces, playing their favorite racing game.

"Dude, you are totally doing the dishes tonight!" Changeling yelled out, his grin taking up his entire face.

"Nuh-uh, man. Your scrawny, green butt is doing all my chores for the next week!" Cyborg retorted.

Behind them, Arsenal [3], who was visiting for the weekend, stood, watching with great amusement in his eyes as the two best friends fought. Nightwing understood the humor. The two have been having this argument for nearly a decade yet it seems like the first time each time these two play a competitive game.

To the right, Nightwing could smell the wonderful aroma of baking brownies. Glancing into the kitchen, he smiled as he watched Starfire stir a mixture in a clear mixing bowl. Just a few years ago the girl could hardly heat something edible in the microwave and here she is making scrumptious batch of brownies. She has truly come a long way since the formation of the team nine years ago.

From the hallway, Nightwing heard the pitter-patter of small feet and watched as a young girl came running through the automatic door as fast as her little legs would take her. She ran up to Starfire, her black hair bouncing in the ponytail. Latching a hand onto Starfire's skirt, the girl gave a gentle tug to get the alien's attention. Starfire looked down and smiled. She leaned down, putting her hands on her knees, as to be eye level with the child.

"Hello, Lian! [4]" she greeted happily.

"Hi, Starry! What're you making?" Lian asked, pointing to the clear bowl in Starfire's hands. Starfire giggled and set the bowl down on the counter. She reached down and picked Lian up with ease and set her on the counter as well.

"I am making brownies for us all to eat," she announced, smiling as she saw Lian's big, brown eyes light up. "If you help me pour this into the glass dish maybe you could lick the spoon," she stated rather casually. Lian nearly jumped off the countertop with excitement.

"Ooo! Could I?" she asked in disbelief. Starfire nodded letting her grin grow. "Yay! I love you, Starry!" The two then proceeded to gently hold the bowl over the glass dish and let the mixture slowly pour in, looking like waves as they fell. Nightwing smiled. Starfire and Roy may need to give themselves another shot. Lian looks at Starfire as a mother. And Roy needs to settle down. Starfire would be perfect for them both.

Suddenly, he felt a delicate hand land gently on his shoulder pulling him out of his musings and he turned around to find Raven standing there, two cups floating in midair next to her. Feeling his heart rate go up a bit, Nightwing smiled and grabbed his usual cup, patting at the seat next to him for her to sit down. Giving him a small smile, Raven moved around the couch and gracefully sat down to his left. He watched her hands close around the dark purple mug and bring it to her lips, taking a small sip of the steaming, English tea. Feeling his stare, she turned her amethyst orbs to his form.

"What?" Raven asked, cocking an eyebrow. Letting his smile grow, Nightwing took a gulp of his coffee and let the warm feeling flood throughout his entire body. He shrugged his broad shoulders and wrapped his left arm around her, pulling her body snug to his. She leaned into the comfort of his being, looking content. Nightwing pressed a gentle kiss to her right temple, a smile playing his lips.

"Can you two do that somewhere else? We're trying to play a game here!" Changeling called out, his eyes never leaving the screen where his car and Cyborg's car were racing directly next to each other's. Raven sent a glare at him, levitated a pillow, then smothered his face with it. "Dude!" he managed to muffle out. He let go of the controller and attempted to pry the pillow off his face. Raven held it there with her powers until there was a sudden cry.

"Booyah!" Cyborg cheered as his car crossed the black and white checkered strip.

"No!" Changeling screamed when Raven finally released the pillow from his face. "That is totally not fair!"

"It is so fair!" Cyborg said while doing a victory dance around the common room.

"It is not fair! Raven put a pillow on my face! I couldn't see or use the controller! I demand a rematch!" Changeling argued pointing a finger at the game box.

"Not my fault you don't know how to shut up when you need to, man!" Cyborg reasoned back. While the game addicts argued, Nightwing looked down at Raven who looked back up at him innocently.

"Was that necessary?" he started, unable to keep a smile of amusement from his face.

"Was what necessary?" she questioned back, taking another sip of her tea. Nightwing just shook his head, knowing that even if he did try to argue with her about this it would just a) make her mad, b) lead to her winning the argument, or c) end up being pointless anyway because he can't stay mad at her for more than five minutes. So instead of wasting their time, he just leaned forward and pressed a sweet kiss to her mouth. He pulled back slowly, his eyes still closed.

"I love you," he whispered against her lips. Just centimeters from one another, he felt the corners of her mouth move upward ever so slightly and he leaned forward again, kissing her again, this time with more passion. She responded with an equal amount of passion but quickly placed her hands on his chest, pushing him back a little. He separated his mouth from hers and looked down at her through hooded eyes. A blush covered her cheeks and she looked around nervously, making sure no one else had watched. Nightwing smiled a brilliant smile. Raven was fine with small displays of affection in public. It had taken a while but she had finally gotten to the point where she didn't tense up when he put his arm around her or back up swiftly when he leaned in for a quick peck. However, never would Raven be comfortable with a public make-out session. It just wasn't her. Actually, it wasn't him either but he always enjoyed the way she would respond with an equal amount of aggression, forgetting where she was and forgetting everyone else around her but him. [5]

So the night went on as any other. They laughed, talked, ate the delicious brownies, and by ten o'clock, after Lian had been tucked snuggly in her bed, were getting ready to end their Friday night ritual with a horror movie. Everyone had just settled onto the couch and the previews were almost finished when they heard a knock on the front door. The knock was loud, forceful, and urgent. Not hesitating, Nightwing grabbed the remote and turned the volume down. Changeling threw his head back against the couch and groaned loudly. All the men laughed at his impatience while Starfire merely giggled and Raven smiled slightly.

A smile upon his face, Nightwing reached the door and opened it hurriedly, hoping to get their visitors out of the rain. Once open, however, the smile quickly fell as he saw who the visitors were. With wide eyes he took a step back into the room to give the people at the door space to walk in. Two pairs of red boots walked past the threshold and the Titans found themselves facing none other than Superman and Wonder Woman.

Nightwing didn't even have to look at what was in Superman's arms to know why they were there. [6] He could feel the air leave his lungs as though he had just been kicked in the stomach. His knees began to buckle beneath him.

He is dead.

He is dead.

He is dead.

Those words kept playing like a broken record. Over and over again - they echoed in his mind. He looked up at the disheartened faces of the two people in front of him. There were so many words he could say. So many. But as he stared at the black cowl in Superman's arms he could only whisper one: "No…"

AN: Hey everyone! So, I'm frankly not too happy with this chapter. I think it's because it's really wordy but this chapter needed to be wordy. I wanted to show how the Titans had progressed over the years, I wanted to establish the characters the way I felt they should be, and I wanted to play with the Raven/Nightwing relationship.

Review Responses:

**TheDreamChaser- **Haha this will probably be the fastest I will ever update, sad to say,

but I will try to update quickly!

**TPOC1- **I'm glad you liked Batman in this! I feel like sometimes authors don't make

him the freakin' awesome hero he is so I wanted to incorporate that! I have most of their Gotham trip planned out and trust me, there is going to be a whole lot going on there! They have their work cut out for them, that's for sure. As for your question on Batman: Arkham City , there will probably be some of that thrown in here. The video games are honestly some of the most well thought out games I've ever seen and putting in some of the stuff, like Arkham City itself, is a definite possibility. The Gotham villains will be a challenge for the Titans. I've always felt Jump, besides Slade and Trigon, was short on challenging villains while Gotham has a large excess of challenging villains so it'll be quite a change for them! Thanks for the review! (And sorry this response is so long lol)

**Her Head In The Clouds-** Batman's walk through Command-D was based off of Arkham Asylum! I'm glad you caught that! I didn't realize it as I was writing it but when I reread it I was like, "You are copying the videogame!" haha But I didn't change it because, well, I liked it! (And I'm too uncreative to come up with some crazy stealth-like movements myself) I'm glad you like my writing style! I've spent so much time over the years playing with different styles that I've finally settled on one I really liked so I'm glad others like it as well! I've never heard of Infinite Blade but now I want to go check it out! Any game with a character comparable to Darkseid has to worthy of playing! Thanks for the review! (And I am sorry that this response is so long too)

[1]- I love DC Comics but their multitude of Earths have proven to be annoying. I'm not 100% sure but I do believe the world typically followed (the one we all know) is Earth 2.

[2]- This original Young Justice is the Young Justice from the Cartoon Network cartoon. I know that isn't true (as the cartoon is based off of Earth 16 or 17). I like the show, however, and that's why I chose them.

[3]- Arsenal is the name Speedy takes when he gets older. The Young Justice show says that his name changes to Red Arrow but I cannot recall that name ever being used until Young Justice started.

[4]- Lian is the daughter of Arsenal and Cheshire. She is young, about four years old. She is still alive to me and that's why she is here! She makes Arsenal a happy guy and of course she loves her Uncle Nightwing.

[5]- I hope Raven didn't seem to OOC. I tried to make her comfortable with their relationship but still Raven-ish. I tried to keep her showing of emotions minimal but still there. I hope she seemed normal.

[6]- I also hope Nightwing doesn't seem too OOC. I originally had him crying but I thought, though he is heartbroken and shocked, that it was too much for him. He may be the outgoing one of all the Robins but he is still a private person. So I figure the loss of breath and weakness of his body would be a lot of emotion but not anything over the top.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, made a favorite, or put on story alert! It means a lot!


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